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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27681746">Stay With Me</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tgaret990/pseuds/Tgaret990'>Tgaret990</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>All Elite Wrestling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>A wild Ibushi is briefly mentioned!, Adam already knows where his head is at and isn't having any of that, Adam you've always been good enough please believe us!!!, Angst with a Happy Ending, Being there for your friend(?), But Adam's head isn't much better tbh, Buuut One-Winged Cowboys said no you need to ship, Honest Conversation, Hurt/Comfort, Kenny just needs a minute alone, M/M, Post-AEW Full Gear 2020, Storyline parellels, The dark corners of arenas, This was going to be completely platonic and a friendship fic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 01:07:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,390</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27681746</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tgaret990/pseuds/Tgaret990</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Post-Full Gear.</p><p>Kenny is convinced that he's well on his way to being that person he used to hate, the one he couldn't bear to look at in the mirror, the one he never wanted to become again. Adam is convinced that he'll always be alone, always be less than and worthless and never good enough. They find each other after the PPV and have their first real conversation since All Out.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kenny Omega/Adam Page</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>32</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Stay With Me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Stay With Me</p><p> </p><p>A/N: Based on some comments made by Kenny in an interview with the WON regarding his and Adam’s storyline. Basically, his and Adam’s story borrowed a little from the beginning of the Golden Lovers' in the sense that one guy wanted to break off and do his own thing, though not maliciously so, while the other wanted to prove they were good enough and keep the team alive. They’re still friends, just taking different paths. Kenny is Kota in this case and Adam is how Kenny was. Where they go from there remains to be seen.</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>     Kenny found himself wandering to the dark corner of the arena that he usually frequented when his thoughts wouldn’t stop racing, when his head and his heart weren’t quite right and he needed quiet and solitude to work through everything. Full Gear had come and gone. It didn’t feel like much time had passed at all since All Out. It had been… A lot, since then. The war his head and heart waged every waking moment, every second of his dreams, if you could call them that… It was taking its toll. The changes he’d noticed in himself from how he first was when AEW started were startling, but not surprising. He was wondering how long it would be until he fell again.</p><p> </p><p>     The voice in his head that told him it was time to be selfish, to take what he wanted, remind people just who the Hell they were dealing with, to prove wrong all those who dared to try and discredit him, put him down, brush him aside… It was loud and clear now, and it would be Kenny’s main focus if it weren’t for the man currently sitting in his usual spot as he looked up from the ground.</p><p> </p><p>     “I thought you might come here,” Adam whispered, staring indifferently into a half empty glass of whiskey. “You always did like to disappear when there was a lot on your mind.”</p><p> </p><p>     He looked up, and Kenny gasped at the utterly despaired and lost look in his eyes, the hopelessness, self loathing, and bitterness in a gaze that looked all too familiar. It was a look that Kenny had gotten used to seeing staring back at him in a mirror for four long years, one he hoped he’d never have to see again. Adam held his gaze for a few long, unending moments, and Kenny felt something in him push him forward. He took a step towards him, then another, slowly sliding down in the spot on the floor next to Adam. There was a small spark in Adam’s gaze at that before it vanished as quickly as it appeared. Adam looked back at his whiskey.</p><p> </p><p>     “Do you… Wanna talk about it?” Kenny scoffed with a sad smile.</p><p> </p><p>     “We’d be here all night.” Adam laughed softly at that.</p><p> </p><p>     “I’ve got nowhere to be. And it’s not like there’s anyone waiting for me when I get back anyway.” Well, maybe the Dark Order wouldn’t mind having him around, especially after he ran into them not too long ago, but he didn’t like to think about that. Kenny frowned at the way Adam smiled at that, trying to hide the hurt so clear and evident in his voice.</p><p> </p><p>     “You don’t have to go back to the hotel alone,” Kenny told him. Adam chuckled at that, and Kenny winced at how pained it came out.</p><p> </p><p>     “Don’t I?” He ran a hand through his hair, grabbing a fistfull at the back of his head and tugging slightly, just enough to feel a tinge of pain. “You left me. Everyone leaves me eventually, and no one ever comes back.” Kenny averted his eyes for a moment, guilt washing over him.</p><p> </p><p>     “I did leave you that night, and we haven’t talked since. I’m sorry about that.” Another laugh from Adam, this one disbelieving, drew Kenny’s gaze again.</p><p> </p><p>     “Oh, you’re sorry?”</p><p> </p><p>     “Yeah, I am,” Kenny told him firmly. “You think I haven’t spent every moment since feeling like a piece of shit and asking myself why I didn’t end things another way? I haven’t been able to look at myself for almost two months because there’s so much happening in my head I can’t think straight. Whether it’s that dark part of me in my head telling me to fuck what everyone else thinks and take what’s mine, the part of me that wants to fix the Elite, that wants to fix things with <b>you</b>.”</p><p> </p><p>     Something in Adam’s eyes softened then, his gaze raw and vulnerable and open. Kenny sighed, running a hand over his face.</p><p> </p><p>     “When I let you fall, at All Out… I was angry. I was angry at FTR, at you, at myself. Those tag titles felt like the first significant thing for me in AEW. They felt like the first thing that really mattered in everyone else’s eyes regarding me. And when we were a team? I felt unstoppable. When we lost them… I hated it. I saw you laid out on that mat and I wanted so much to find a reason to take you out right then and there. I wanted to take my anger, all of it, out on something, some<b>one</b>. For a moment I thought it was going to be you.”</p><p> </p><p>     “But you didn’t. You let me fall.” Kenny frowned.</p><p> </p><p>     “I did,” he agreed. “I didn’t know what else to do. It was my fault we lost. It was my fault we were even a team in the first place. I was so angry at myself for thinking…” He trailed off, and Adam put his glass down, nudging Kenny’s shoulder as he stared wistfully into space. Kenny came back to himself.</p><p> </p><p>     “For thinking what?” Adam asked.</p><p> </p><p>     “For thinking that if I tried to find some familiarity things might work out how they’re supposed to. Maybe if I went back to my roots I would find what everyone thought I was missing.” He shook his head, feeling his eyes water. “It just hurt even more… Because I saw what was happening, to both of us, and I couldn’t. I couldn’t stand it.”</p><p> </p><p>     “Stand what? Quit beating around the bush, man.”</p><p> </p><p>     “I couldn’t stand seeing you go through the same thing I went through!” Kenny burst out, and Adam looked at him wide-eyed. “When Ibushi and I were a team in DDT, he was always the star. All eyes were on him. Everyone told him <b>he</b> was the next big thing. No matter how loud that crowd cheered I never felt good enough. I was always in his shadow. And then he wanted to break out on his own…” He took in a shaky breath, pausing briefly as he blinked away tears, voice barely above a whisper now. “But I couldn’t stand the thought of losing him. I couldn’t stand the thought of losing the only person who made me feel like I mattered. I couldn’t stand the thought that he would leave me behind once he found what he was looking for.”</p><p> </p><p>     Kenny looked to Adam, apologetic and guilty and crushed.</p><p> </p><p>     “I…” What could Adam say to that other than that Kenny had hit the nail right on the head? Kenny chuckled sadly.</p><p> </p><p>     “And now the roles are reversed, in a way. Now it’s me who wants to break away, and I know that’s been eating away at you these last few weeks.” Adam looked down and away. It had. It really had.</p><p> </p><p>     When Adam had found out his singles matches were originally supposed to be tag matches with Kenny and himself, tag matches that Kenny had turned down, it had devastated him. Did Kenny not want to tag anymore? Was he just taking time away after such an intense match? He’d gone back to listen to the commentary from those episodes, of course. He’d heard the things Kenny had said, the way his tone was different, his demeanor. And how he had his eyes set on singles action for the foreseeable future. If that didn’t take the wind out of his already tattered and ripped sails…</p><p> </p><p>     “It has,” Adam confirmed. “I wish you would’ve just come and told me we were done. I would’ve been okay.” They both knew he wouldn’t have been, but neither man said anything further about it.</p><p> </p><p>     “I’m sorry I didn’t just talk to you about it. I…” Kenny sighed. “I know it doesn’t mean much now…”</p><p> </p><p>     “It means more than you know,” Adam corrected him, heart clenching at the thought that Kenny felt he needed to apologize. “Believe me.” Kenny hesitated, but nodded.</p><p> </p><p>     “Just… Please know that I don’t hate you. I could never hate you. Our run together as a team was incredible, and you’re a great friend.” Adam scoffed.</p><p> </p><p>     “I was drunk and depressed and a worthless piece of shit the whole time. You said it yourself that you didn’t like the side of me you got to know.” Kenny grimaced. Ah, right. That.</p><p> </p><p>     “I didn’t like seeing you that way. You’re a genuinely great person and someone I’m grateful to have as a friend. I hate seeing you so down on yourself all the time and trying to drink your problems away.”</p><p> </p><p>     “Oh, and what am I supposed to do? Talk about them?” He shook his head, downing what was left in his glass. “I wasn’t good enough then and I’m still not good enough now. What’s the point anymore?”</p><p> </p><p>     “You have <b>always</b> been good enough, <b> <em>more</em> </b> than enough. You’re amazing in so many ways and you’ve connected with so many people. You didn’t have to try and prove anything. You’ve always had what it takes to be the guy. You know that, right?” Adam gave him a disbelieving grin.</p><p> </p><p>     “You’re just saying that so I’ll stop feeling so shitty.” He shook his head, reaching for the whiskey bottle Kenny hadn’t noticed when he’d first sat down. Without thinking he snatched it from Adam’s hand, sliding it away from them down the hallway. Adam gave him a half angry, half curious look at that. “Really?”</p><p> </p><p>     “I need you to listen to me.” Adam rolled his eyes.</p><p> </p><p>     “I need to listen? Like when I tried to tell you that I was sorry and wanted to make things right before you let me fall and left me? Like when I looked for you after every singles match, after every show, to try and make things right and came up empty? Like you listened then?” Kenny averted his eyes. “Fuck this.” He made to get up, but Kenny’s sudden tight grip on his arm kept him grounded. Adam meant to meet his eye with a glare, but couldn’t help the shock he felt seeing Kenny’s determined and tear filled eyes.</p><p> </p><p>     “Please, Adam.” Adam, he’d called him. <b> <em>Adam</em> </b> <em> , </em> not Hangman. <b> <em>FUCK.</em> </b> Adam stayed sitting, eyes firmly focused on Kenny, who relaxed slightly. “You’re a fantastic wrestler. You’re a wonderful human being and a great friend. You are, and always have been, good enough to be the top guy. It’s just a matter of having the opportunities and getting there. And you <b> <em>will</em> </b> get there. I know you will.” Adam let out a shaky gasp as Kenny gently, <em> gently, </em> cupped his face, ocean blue eyes intense and staring into his soul. “You don’t need me. You never needed me. You’re a better man than I’ll ever be. You just need to find confidence in yourself and the world is yours.”</p><p> </p><p>     Neither man spoke for a while after that, Kenny basking in the feeling of not being alone, of companionship, of Adam, and Adam committing to memory the way Kenny’s hands felt on his face, Kenny’s soft and genuine tone of voice, that look in his eyes… Adam was the first to move, shaking his head slowly.</p><p> </p><p>     “You’re wrong,” he replied, much to Kenny’s confusion. Kenny made to talk again, but Adam continued before he could. “I <b>did</b> need you, and I still do. Because of this.” He smiled sadly. “I needed someone to believe in me. And I guess that someone is you.” He leaned desperately into Kenny’s touch, closing his eyes. “Even if this is all just a dream and I’m going to wake up after being passed out in some back alley tomorrow, if I can just have this, even for just a moment, I can keep going.” Kenny let out a harsh breath, pulling Adam closer, into his arms. He felt Adam hesitate before returning the embrace tenfold, almost knocking them over.</p><p> </p><p>     “You have me, I promise,” Kenny whispered. “I’m here. Maybe not at every show, or on every travel day or off day, but I’m <b>here</b>. Text me, call me, come find me. I’ll be there.” Adam let out a quiet whimper, hating the sob he felt bubbling up within. Dammit, he was better than this!</p><p> </p><p>     “I wanna believe you,” Adam whispered. Kenny hated how small his voice sounded. “I do. But…” Adam’s mind flashed back to earlier, when the Bucks, Kenny, and SCU had all been celebrating together.</p><p> </p><p>     “Stay with me tonight,” Kenny told him out of nowhere, and Adam pulled back at that, wiping briefly at his red-rimmed eyes.</p><p> </p><p>     “W-What? Why?” Kenny took a second to gather his thoughts.</p><p> </p><p>     “I don’t want to lose you,” Kenny began. “Just, stay with me tonight, <b>just</b> tonight. And if it feels weird and you hate me for it I’ll give you as much space as you need. I just… We don’t have to split up just because we’re not teaming together anymore.”</p><p> </p><p>     “What about the Bucks?”</p><p> </p><p>     “They’ll deal with it. I love them, but you aren’t up for debate.” That made Adam smile just a little.</p><p> </p><p>     “Will there be plenty of choc in the fridge if I stay the night?” Kenny laughed, loud and unexpected and happy and deep, and Adam’s heart skipped a beat as what looked like years of stress disappeared form his face.</p><p> </p><p>     “Of course.”</p><p> </p><p>     Kenny stood, holding a hand out, and Adam took it, the shaking in his hand stopping as soon as his fingers were intertwined with Kenny’s. He didn’t let go when he was on his feet. Neither did Kenny. And when they fell asleep in each other’s arms back at the hotel, waking up that way the next morning, smiling and sharing a soft, shy, and hopeful kiss, they didn’t let go then either.</p>
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